Bacterial Morphology

Cell Structure
Bacteria
• Bacteria are unicellular organisms. Because they have no nucleus, the cells are
described as prokaryotic.
• Most bacteria have a peptidoglycan cell wall; they divide by binary fission
• Bacteria can use a wide range of chemical substances for their nutrition.
• Bacteria are the most important microorganisms to the food processor.
• Most are harmless, many are highly beneficial, some indicate the probable
presence of filth, disease organisms, spoilage and a few cause disease.
• There are thousands of species of bacteria, but all are single-celled and fall
into three basic shapes: spherical, straight rods, and spiral rods.
• All bacteria reproduce by dividing into two cells. The two cells then divide to become
4, 4 become 8, and so forth.
• Under ideal conditions, this doubling may occur as frequently as every 15 minutes, so
that within 5 hours there will be more than a million cells from the original single cell.
• The time required for a complete fission cycle – form parent cell to two new daughter
cells – is called the generation, or doubling time.
• Each new fission cycle or generation increases the population by a
factor of 2 or doubles it.
• Ex: 1 cell -2 cells- 4 cells -8 cells -16 cells- 32 cells
• As long as the environment remains favorable, this doubling effect
can continue at a constant rate.
The length of the generation time is a measure of the growth rate of an organism.
• The average generation time is 30-60 minutes under optimum conditions.
Morphology of bacterial cells
• Morphology of bacterial cell deals with study of size of bacteria, shape of bacteria, and arrangement
of bacteria cells.
Size of bacteria.
• Size of bacterial cell is less than 3 micrometer, the bacteria are microscopic in nature and are visible
only under compound microscope.
• These bacteria may be spherical, cylindrical or spiral in shape.
• Bacteria are microscopic in nature so their size is also measured under microscope.
• Size of bacteria is measured  by using calibrated slide and calibrated  ocular compound microscope is
used. This method of measuring size is called micrometry.

• Units of measurement used in bacteriology are Micron or micrometer, nanometer (nm) or

Millimicron, and Angstrom (A°)
• Size of spherical bacteria or cocci ranges from 0.5 to 3.0 μm.
• Size of cylindrical or rod shape bacteria ranges from 0.15 μm to 2.0 μm in width and 0.5 μ to 20 μ in
length.
• The small size of bacteria have large surface area for entry of nutrients, water and exit of waste.
Shape of bacterial cells
• Shape of bacteria cell depends on the rigidity of cell wall.
There are three shapes of bacteria namely:
a) Spherical or cocci shape.
If the cells are spherical  or ball shape  then the cells are called cocci.
b) Cylindrical or rod shape.
If the cells are rod or cylindrical in shape it is called bacilli.
c) Spiral shape.
A bacteria which is twisted two or more times along the axis is called a
spiral form bacteria.
Bacteria
Arrangement of bacterial cells
Arrangement of bacterial cells.
• Variety of arrangement of cells is observed in cocci and rod shape bacteria.
• Singly :- If a cocci cell appear individually, it is called cocci.
• Diplococci :- When two cells are attached to each other
• Streptococcus:- If cocci cells are arranged in long chain
• Staphylococcus:-  If the cocci cells are arranged in form of a cluster
• Similarly, rod-shaped bacteria can be
• Single cell :- If only one cell exist, it is called bacilli.
• Diplobacilli :- If two bacilli cells are attached to each other it is called
diplobacilli.
• Streptobacilli :- It bacilli cells are arranged in the form of long chain it is called
streptobacilli.
Phases of bacterial growth
Lag Phases
• The growth curve of a bacterial culture begins with the lag phase.
• In this phase, the bacteria are transporting nutrients inside the cell
from the new medium, preparing for reproduction and synthesizing
DNA and various inducible enzymes needed for cell division.
• They increase in size during this process but the number of cell does
not increase.
Exponential Phase
• In the exponential phase, also called the log growth phase, bacterial
cell division begins. One cell divides to form two, each of these cells
divides to form four and so forth.
• During the log phase of growth, bacterial reproduction occurs at a
maximal rate for the specific set of growth conditions.
• Growth during much of the exponential growth phase is said to be
balanced, that is the concentrations of all macromolecules of the cell
are increasing at the same rate.
• During the log phase of the growth curve, the growth rate of a
bacterium is proportional to the biomass of bacteria that is present.
Stationary Phase
• During this phase there is no further increase in bacterial cell
numbers.
• Cells in the stationary phase have a different chemical composition
from cells in the exponential phase.
• In the stationary phase, the growth rate is exactly equal to the death
rate.
• A bacterial population may reach stationary growth when:
i. a required nutrient is exhausted
ii. inhibitory end products accumulate
iii. physical conditions change
Death Phase
• The death phase starts from when the number of viable cells begins
to decline.
• The kinetic of bacterial death, like those of growth, are exponential
because the death phase really represents the result of the inability of
the bacteria to carry out further reproduction.
Bacterial Cell structure
• Structurally, a bacterial cell has three architectural regions:
1. Appendages (attachments to the cell surface) in the form of flagella
and pili (or fimbriae);
2. A cell envelope consisting of a capsule, cell wall and plasma
membrane;
3. A cytoplasmic region that contains the cell chromosome (DNA) and
ribosomes and various sorts of inclusions.
Structure of Bacterial cells
Appendages:-
• Flagella:-
• Flagella are filamentous protein structures attached to the cell surface that
provide the swimming movement for most motile prokaryotes.
• The flagellar filament is rotated by a motor apparatus in the plasma
membrane allowing the cell to swim in fluid environments.
• The flagellar apparatus consists of several distinct proteins: a system of
rings imbedded in the cell envelope (the basal body), a hook-like structure
near the cell surface, and the flagellar filament composed of polymerized
protein called flagellin.
• Some bacteria has single flagella called monotrichus or has flagellum at
each end of the cell called amphitrichus, or multiple flagella at one end
called lophotrichus or flagella distributed over the entire body called
peritrichus.
• Fimbriae and Pili:-
• Fimbriae and pili are interchangeable terms used to designate short, hair-like structures
on the surfaces of prokaryotic cells.
• Like flagella, they are composed of protein called pillin.
• Fimbriae are shorter and stiffer than flagella, and slightly smaller in diameter.
• Generally, fimbriae have nothing to do with bacterial movement (there are exceptions,
e.g. twitching movement on Pseudomonas).
• Fimbriae are very common in Gram-negative bacteria, but occur in some Gram-positive
bacteria as well.
• Role of pili:-
• 1- pili are most often involved in adherence of bacteria to surfaces, substrates and other
cells or tissues in nature. They are major determinants of bacterial virulence because they
allow pathogens to attach to (colonize) tissues and/or to resist attack by phagocytic white
blood cells
• 2- Type of pilus, the F or sex pilus, apparently stabilizes mating bacteria during the process
of conjugation between the male (donor) and the female (recipient).
• Cell envelope:-
• The cell envelope is a descriptive term for the several layers of
material that envelope or enclose the protoplasm of the cell.
• The cell protoplasm (cytoplasm) is surrounded by the plasma
membrane, a cell wall and a capsule.
• All cells have a plasma membrane, which is the essential and
definitive characteristic of a "cell".
• Almost all prokaryotes have a cell wall to prevent damage to the
underlying protoplast.
• Outside the cell wall, foremost as a surface structure, may be a
polysaccharide capsule or glycocalyx.
• Capsules:-
• Most bacteria contain some sort of a polysaccharide layer outside of the cell
wall polymer.
• In a general sense, this layer is called a capsule. A true capsule is a discrete
detectable layer of polysaccharides deposited outside the cell wall.
• A less discrete structure or matrix which embeds the cells is called a slime
layer or a glycocalyx, it is a very thin layer of tangled polysaccharide fibers
on the cell surface, often mediate adherence of cells to surfaces.
• Capsules are generally composed of polysaccharides; rarely they contain
amino sugars or peptides.
• Capsules have several functions and often have multiple functions.
• Capsules mediate adherence of cells to surfaces, protect bacterial cells from
engulfment by phagocytes (scavenger cells) and invasiveness of pathogen.
• Cell wall:-
• Most prokaryotes have a rigid cell wall.
• The cell wall is an essential structure that protects the cell protoplast (the region bound by
and including the membrane) from mechanical damage and from osmotic rupture or lysis.
• In Gram-positive Bacteria the cell wall is thick (15-80 nanometers), consisting of several
layers of peptidoglycan. It has a layer of teichoic acids on the outside of the peptidoglycan
which are unique to the Gram-positive cell wall.
• In the Gram-negative Bacteria the cell wall is relatively thin (10 nanometers) and is
composed of a single layer of peptidoglycan surrounded by a membranous structure called
the outer membrane.
• The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria invariably contains a unique component,
lipopolysaccharide (LPS or endotoxin), which is toxic to animals, lipoprotein, and
phospholipid.
• Lying between the outer membrane layer and the cytoplasmic membrane is the periplasmic
space which is the site in some species of enzymes (e.g, beta lactamases) that degrade
penicillin and other beta lactam drugs.
• Plasma membrane:-
• The plasma membrane, also called the cytoplasmic membrane, is the most dynamic structure of a
prokaryotic cell.
• Its main function is as a selective permeability barrier that regulates the passage of substances into
and out of the cell.
• Bacterial membranes are composed of 40 percent phospholipid and 60 percent protein.
Functions of plasma membrane:-
1. Osmotic or permeability barrier
2. Location of transport systems for specific solutes (nutrients and ions)
3. Energy generating functions, involving respiratory and photosynthetic electron transport systems
4. Synthesis of membrane lipids (including lipopolysaccharide in Gram-negative cells)
5. Synthesis of murein (cell wall peptidoglycan)
6. Assembly and secretion of extracytoplasmic proteins
7. Chemotaxis-movement in reaction to a chemical stimulus (both motility per se and sensing
functions)
• 8. Location of specialized enzyme system
• Cytoplasmic region:
• The cytoplasmic constituents of bacterial cells invariably include the prokaryotic
chromosome (nucleoid), ribosomes, and several hundred proteins and enzymes.
1- Chromosome:-
• The chromosome is typically one large circular molecule of DNA, more or less
free in the cytoplasm.
• The cell chromosome is the genetic control center of the cell which determines
all the properties and functions of the bacterium.
2- Plasmids:-
• Are extrachromosomal pieces of DNA double strand, circular DNA.
• Plasmid are not essential for the life of cell.
• They may confer certain properties like toxigenicity, virulence and drug
resistance.
3- Ribosome:-
• The ribosomes of prokaryotes are smaller than cytoplasmic ribosomes
of eukaryotes.
• Ribosomes are involved in the process of translation (protein
synthesis), ribosomes are the site of action of many antibiotics that
inhibit bacterial but not human protein synthesis. Consist of two
subunits, the protein and RNA.
4- Inclusions:-
• Inclusions are distinct granules that may occupy a substantial part of
the cytoplasm.
• Inclusion granules are usually reserve materials of some sort. For
example, carbon and energy reserves may be stored as glycogen.